Peking Opera star Zhang Huoding is set to perform at the conclusion of the 15th Meet in Beijing International Arts Festival on May 27-28, 2015, at the National Center for the Performing Arts, Xicheng District, Beijing. She will be star of the classic "The Jewelry Purse" (Suo Lin Nang) by the Peking Opera school of Cheng.
The annual Meet in Beijing arts festival promotes international cultural exchange by presenting domestic works alongside foreign productions. The event is on its 15th year and will be the first ever installment wherein a local Chinese act closes the ceremonies.
Wrapping up the festival, with Zhang in the lead, will be "The Jewelry Purse." Written by Cheng Yanqiu (1904-1958), it is a tale on the effect of generosity on the characters' tumultuous and intertwining destinies after they meet as two young brides.
Zhang is from Baicheng City in the northeastern Jilin Province. She first learned Peking Opera from her brother Zhang Huoqian. After studying at an opera school in Tianjin, she was taken under the tutelage of Zhao Rongchen of the Cheng school, effectively becoming his last disciple.
Despite having started training in Peking Opera at a relatively late age of 15 and persevering in the face of doubt and rejection in her youth, Zhang Huoding beat the odds to become an influential headliner loved by all demographics.
Her stage mastery, star quality and vocal prowess have attracted more of China's youth to theatrical opera. Now she is one of China's most sought-after Peking Opera actresses, as well as a professor at the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts.
Zhang Huoding will go on to debut at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City in September, to promote the beauty of China's traditional opera form.